Musicality
by Antholicious
Summary: Haruno Sakura was the average loner girl. Uchiha Sasuke was the most popular guy in school. So when they meet in the music department, God went a little crazy when he gambled with fate. AU, SasuSaku HIATUS
1. Replacement Elective

Since I'm so obsessed with band, I got inspired to write this. AND THREE YEAR WRITERS BLOCK FREE!! WHEEEEE!!

_Thoughts_

**Inner self**

"Talking"

Disclaimer: I don't own any junk food, drink brands, and amusement parks. I particularly don't own the architecture and contents of the band and choir room. It was simply based off from my own school's band and choir room.

_**EXTRA NOTE**_: This story contains **MAJOR** profanity, which I use, but still; if you're not used to strong trash language, I suggest you don't read this. But your still probably going to read it anyway because I said don't read it, because it's called 'REVERSE PHSYCOLOGY'.

Setting: Beginning of school, eighth grade

**Introduction**

In the country of Konoha, there are many schools. And all of these schools may be different, but have at least two things in common:

Weird, insane, crazy (or all of the above) people.

One of the best bands and choir you'll ever see, or hear, depending if you're deaf or blind.

Except one school e_**specially**_ stood out.

**Fiery Middle School**

(AN: Crappy name? I know.)

**XOXOXOXOXO**

**Ch. 1:** Replacement Elective

_B-Bmp Buh Buh B-buh bmp_

The steady beat of the bass drum sounded in the air even before she heard it clearly. All of a sudden, a woody, crisp sound sliced like butter through the silence.

She shivered at the sudden sound, but continued to proceed into the band room, momentarily forgetting what she was doing. When she entered, she felt like she was tiny cell against the warped room.

It had curved walls, to reflect sound, making it louder. Two of its walls were covered with huge lockers that contained instruments. A drum set lay proudly in a corner, the sunlight making it shine. A piano was placed next to the drum set, the blackness of it was layered with the slightest bit of dust, just enough to blow off.

She nearly tripped over the wooden platforms (platforms that carried the heavy weight of percussion/percussionists) and the stray cases of instruments lying on the floor. The students concentrated with unblinking eyes, all seated in dizzying rows of black chairs.

At the front was a whiteboard, covered with random drawings and writings. The only music related thing on it was the piece they were to play. In front of the board, a man with a scar over his cheek made sharp movements with his baton as he flipped a page.

She gulped and walked quietly toward him, standing from him at a good distance, waiting to be noticed. It wasn't long before Iruka glanced at her and beckoned the pink haired girl closer. He put down his baton, but the students continued to play.

Haruno Sakura, age thirteen, flickered at his face nervously before glancing back down quickly. She handed him a letter sent by her elective teacher, Mizuki. He just flashed Sakura a grin before going back to conducting. Sakura gulped nervously and walked as fast as her legs would carry her.

_Breathing? Check. No white spots? Check. Sky? Check. Bird poo about to hit a jacket?_

"WHAT THE HELL!!"

_Check._

And pink haired, short Sakura had a reason to be hyperventilating: Almost every single popular, smart, ultra handsome kid was in band, or choir. _Literally_. And she wasn't. Not only that, it was the best middle school band and choir in the country. Maybe even the _world_! _Literally_. And she wasn't in it.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her pink hair; the only pink hair anyone has been seen within miles. Her green eyes reflected her relief as she went back to her fifth period class: speech. Not that she particularly liked it, of course, but her parents chose her to do so, thinking that their little, short and cute Sakura, who probably would get kidnapped by the evil witch with a candy house, was too shy and needed to talk more. Just the thought about her parents made her stop momentarily in her tracks and cast the ground a glare before walking once more.

Sakura snorted; _need to talk more my ass_. Opening the blue painted door quietly, she entered the room and took care on closing the door. And she probably never could've guessed why her teacher was looking at her oddly.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

_After school, 3:00 P.M._

Iruka sighed and wiped away sweat that was forming on his brow. _Someone turned off the air conditioning again_, he thought, his eye twitching. It was unusually warm today, and usually unusual things happen on unusually warm days. (Bet you can't say that five times fast!)

And our black haired, scruffy man wasn't much for unusual stuff.

He sighed once more and rummaged through his untidy desk for the letter he received in fifth period. Exasperated, Iruka finally shoved down fifteen stacks of white paper, empty envelopes, colored paper, some doodles back in eighth grade, you name it.

His eye twitched dangerously at the mess on the carpet. Did you know that Iruka was also not much of a cleaner? Figures.

Well, after quite a while Iruka finally found the sealed envelope and flopped down into his now seemingly comfy chair. Tearing the top open, he opened the folded paper and stared dumbfounded at the letter after a minute or so.

_Dear Iruka,_

_I'm sure you know my eighth grade student, Haruno Sakura, the one I sent to give you this letter? That's her. _((At this, Iruka recalled the pink haired girl.))

_Well, lately she's been failing speech class, probably due to the lack of confidence, and I've been thinking about her replacement elective. At last, I figured, why not your class? Your class is full of wonderfully confident people, and I'm thinking she needs to become more confident. _((Iruka snorted, _wonderfully confident my ass; the whole damn lot is wonderfully stuck up._))

_So it is my hope that you should agree to my plan and help her to become more confident._

_Your friend,_

_Mizuki_

Yes, this was why he stared dumbfounded at this letter.

"IRUKA SENSEI!! CAN I BORROW FIFTY CENTS?!" Iruka winced, coming back to reality.

"Naruto, you do realize I gave your allowance _just __**yesterday**__,_ _right_?" Iruka muttered through gritted teeth.

"Ehehe…Sasuke-teme…took…it?" Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his blonde head, slowly backing away from his teacher and foster father. Unknowingly, Iruka-sensei is Uzumaki Naruto's AND Uchiha Sasuke's current caretaker. But, surprisingly, none of the students knew that.

"Hn, that stupid dobe bought ramen again, no doubt," the infamous, not to mention second to last, Uchiha muttered, his arms folded over his chest.

Iruka sighed and rubbed his temples. Unwillingly, he took out his wallet and fished out a dollar. Glaring at the blonde male, he smacked the dollar on his forehead and stuffed his wallet back into his pocket.

"Thanks so much!! I'll work extra, promise!" Naruto cried happily. Though everyone knew he'll never do that. He'll probably just sit around doing nothing but eat ramen; yeah, that's what he'll do.

Naruto ran towards the snack shack, where everything only costs fifty cents, and pondered at what he should buy. Sasuke followed, shouldering him as he hovered over the choices.

"Hey teme, what the hell was that for!" Naruto jumped away and yelled at him, thrusting his fists in front of him, getting into a defensive stance. Sasuke only glanced at him.

"You have one dollar. One thing here costs fifty cents. Now think, what's fifty cents plus another fifty?" Sasuke asked, sorting through the mess of junk food.

Naruto stopped to ponder this. "Um… That would be one dollar, right?" Sasuke rolled his eyes back at his brother's stupidity.

_He's in advanced math with me, yet it takes him five minutes to figure out what fifty plus fifty is? No wonder he doesn't know why I call him dobe_, Sasuke remarked in his mind before grabbing a bottle of blue Gatorade and walking over to the risers where the choir sat.

The snack shack was in the very corner in the choir room, next to the door, and conveniently next to the trash can. It was simply an assortment of food and drinks in a cabinet, strictly only for afterschool, with a makeshift cashier to put money in and take out change.

As for the choir room, it was a much smaller room than the band room, due to the fact fewer people chose to do choir. It usually was only girls who joined along with at least one to five guys per year.

The room still had curved walls to reflect sound, and huge risers stood in the middle of the room with black chairs propped on top.

And unlike the band room, it was surrounded by a row of broken computers (all due to Naruto's sixth grade hyper attitude) on one side while the other sides were lined with cabinets. The band room only had one cabinet, and _that_ was under the sink. It also had two whiteboards instead of one; this, Naruto complained about regularly.

Speaking of Naruto, he was staring dumbfounded at his brother, still deciding to just pay for what Sasuke took or beat the crap out of him. After all, he just realized that one dollar can buy two items.

The raven haired boy decided to make the decision for him. He popped the lid of his Gatorade open and took a swig of it. Naruto sighed, _So much for returning the item_.

A beaten man, he grabbed his favorite bag of Lays and jammed the money inside the poor cashier.

"Boys, come here for a moment," Iruka said at last, breaking the awkward tension in the air. Grumbling, the said males walked lazily towards their supposedly 'father'. Iruka commenced his speech automatically.

"Now, usually, I never have eighth graders join band, even _if_ it is the beginning of the year because they usually want to join only for the Disney Land trip. But now, here's the problem: There's this girl who's in speech that is completely unaware of the fact that she will move out of her elective class. Mizuki, my former assistant, teaches speech and suggests that I should take her in. Do you think I should let her join or not?" Iruka said, thinking thoughtfully as the words came out.

And for a while, there was silence.

"Is she hot?" Naruto asked blankly.

_Crack, crack,_

_**POW!**_

Sasuke, whose fist was still in the air, said, "Well, if she's a social outcast she probably didn't hear about the Disney Land trip so she wouldn't care. But the main problem is: would she be able to catch up with us in our skills?"

"Yeah, that's true… So what's her name?" Naruto asked out of thin air, carefully putting a bandage on his forehead. To this, Iruka replied, "Haruno Sakura."

Naruto automatically jumped up to his feet and searched his father's office.

"Dictionary, music book……… Music book, music, music, music, music, music, ((At this point he was singing)) music, music, music, music…. AHA! Yearbook!" The blonde flipped through it and flipped and flipped and flipped and flipped until he realized…

That the yearbook wasn't in alphabetical order.

"Hn, dobe." The Uchiha grunted and crossed his arms. And for once, the Uzumaki ignored.

"Eheheh…. What _exactly_ is her core class?" Naruto asked sheepishly. Iruka shrugged, Sasuke grunted, Naruto sighed. And so began the painstaking journey of searching through every single class….

Until Iruka said, "You know I could just tell you how she looks like." The immediate response? "YOU KNOW WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE BUT YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"

_Nod_

"Uh…. no thank you?" Naruto said slowly. And so continued his boring (cough) exciting quest.

_Tick, tock_

_Tick, tock_

_Tick, tock_

_**THUD**_

"She. Is. HOOOOOOT!!" Naruto yelled with dreamy heart eyes. Even then the Uchiha couldn't help but feel a _little_ curious at how she looked like. So he picked up the yearbook and stopped immediately at a specific color.

"She has pink hair." Naruto sweat dropped at his blank comment. "THAT'S IT?! Not even 'the creamiest, and I bet soft, skin' or 'the most beautiful mixture of sea-foam and emerald eye color combined as one?' Not even THAT?!" Naruto was practically spitting at the Uchiha.

Awkward silence.

"No."

Naruto fell, exasperated at his brother's non-poetic heart.

"Pink hair, mouth, skin, and eyes. You happy?"

"NO! NEVER!!"

Sasuke groaned and walked away, exasperated at his brother's drama queen mode.

And poor, poor Iruka was in the middle of _everything_.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

_**Larene Way, 3:30 P.M.**_

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Sakura grunted and stumbled backwards before gritting her teeth stubbornly together and forced a step forward. Her red backpack was decorated with a white circle, something her mother sewed on since 5th grade.

And so she went on her lonely journey, Sakura carrying the massive weight of textbooks while poor Mr. Backpack tried to survive by not getting ripped.

Finally deciding to stop her vain struggles, she leaned against a tree, panting and glaring at the sidewalk. Pushing up her falling ponytail, she shook loose strands of hair away from her eyes and struggled forward once more.

All the while her valiant forehead gleaming brightly.

Leaning forward, she growled in frustration and inched her foot forward. But, as if God finally took pity on her after 3 years, he sent down an angel to carry her burden.

Sakura sighed with content and relaxed for a moment.

"This isn't really that heavy you know."

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Sakura jumped up and turned around to face her angel…

…Only to end up facing the one and only Uchiha.

And falling backwards.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

Sakura shut her eyes tightly, Mr. Backpack sliding off her aching shoulders.

She was waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting…

Waiting………………..

Where were we?

Oh yeah.

And, of course,

She fell.

"Owwie," Sakura cursed under her breath, rubbing her sore shoulders and back. She blindly patted the ground, trying to grasp Mr. Backpack's familiar, torn cloth, all ripped up nicely at the seam…

Wait….

_**RIPPED?!**_

Sakura never had a more devastating moment.

"You're crying over a stupid, worn-out backpack? Pathetic."

Wait, cross that out. Sakura never had a more infuriating moment.

She shot up, her currently pinkish green eyes glittered dangerously; as if on the verge of glaring murderously and crying her eyes out.

**WHAT THE HELL IS **_**WRONG**_** WITH THIS GUY'S NERVES?! I SAY WE BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM. HELL YA!!**

Despite her inner's absolutely _annoying_, continuous ranting, Sakura never could've agreed more.

"Well, look _who's_ talking. You're…" Sakura's voice faltered. She was talking to _the_ Uchiha Sasuke, the most popular guy at school, who can send waves of dangerous fangirls and policemen in the snap of a finger to attack a social outcast and absolute loner like _her_.

"'You're', what?" Sasuke continued, smirking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

Except that Uchiha Sasuke had made a grave mistake. A grave, _grave_ mistake. A mistake that God decided to write down as the eleventh commandment.

You _do not_ smirk _down_ at Haruno Sakura.

And of course, she snapped.

"YOU'RE A GODDAMN FUCKING CHICKEN ASS HAIRED BITCH!! THAT'S WHO YOU ARE!!"

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

Wow, this was a long one. BUT I FINALLY GOT OUT OF WRITER'S BLOCK!! Congrats to me!!

And also, though you might have noticed, I'M A COMPLETE BAND OBSESSED PERSON. And I'm proud of it!!

REVIEW PLEASE!! COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!!


	2. The Worst Choice Possible

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!! I couldn't think of anything while I was writing this. But thanks for the reviews!

I'm also afraid that this story isn't the most unique topic around, but this isn't reality, is it?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Ch. 2: The Worst Choice Possible**

Sasuke merely blinked.

"You have a big forehead."

Sakura wanted to kill him slowly one hundred times.

"Why don't you shove a tree up your ass, Gaylord?"

"If I was gay, wouldn't I be enjoying that?"

Awkward silence reigned.

"_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww_….I think I just lost my appetite for ramen…"

A pair of jade and onyx eyes turned to absorb the sight of a blond swinging a plastic bag happily like a disturbed child.

"Hn. Dobe, I thought you didn't have enough money to buy ramen?" the Uchiha inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, someone just kinda tied the bag around my lock…" Naruto said with his eyebrows furrowed together, deep in thought, as he ruffled his already messy hair.

"Well, I demand a new backpack," Sakura grumbled as she slowly stacked her heavy textbooks on top of each other.

"Well, I think you're an idiot," Sasuke remarked to Naruto.

"If you're talking about you, Uchiha, I would gladly agree," Sakura said dryly, grasping the bottom of her stack of books.

Naruto looked at Sakura, bewildered. _A girl criticizing an Uchiha?_, Naruto thought. _HAH! I like her already._

_Bitch. Goddamn son of a bitch_, the said girl chanted in her head, a murderous aura gathering around her. _Come to think of it…._

"…Why are you here?" Sakura asked, confused and slowly panicking. _They can't know where I live, they can't…._

The Uchiha and the Uzumaki slowly exchanged glances. After a moment of silence, Naruto sighed and dropped his shoulders.

_They can't…._

"Stupid unsocial Sasuke, make me do the talking every time…" he grumbled. He took one look at the mass of pink hair and dramatically drew his breath.

_They can't know…._

"Well…er… you _do_ know you're failing speech…right?" Naruto aimed his question at her but did not wait for an answer. "Cuz, well, you see… You kinda need a replacement elective…"

_They absolutely _can not_ know….._

"And it turned out to be… well… YOU'REINMUSICNOW."

_THEY CAN'T FIND OUT–what?_

Sakura blinked. "…what?" She looked from Naruto, to Sasuke, and back to Naruto.

"What the dobe just kindly said to you," Sasuke said, leaning against a tree, "was that you're in the music department now."

Sakura blinked once, twice, three times…

"I died, didn't I?"

_Welcome to Hell, Haruno Sakura._

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Sakura could not believe it. One second she was almost at her house, and the next second she was sitting in a fancy-shmancy couch (that was surprisingly comfortable) at the house of Umino Iruka with two of the most popular kids talking to her.

And during these few seconds, Sakura summed up that life must be twisted in its own evil ways.

"But I can't even play a goddamn instrument!" Sakura interrupted Naruto, who, at the moment, was explaining the various clubs of the music department.

"Which is _why_ we told you that you can join choir," Sasuke said, exasperated.

"BUT I SING LIKE A DYING FROG!!" she shouted angrily back.

"That's ok, Sakura-chan! I sing like a cat scratching on glass!" Naruto said, his sunny attitude nearly blinding her poor eyes.

"But can't I join anything else?" her body slumped against the couch's embroidered cloth.

"According to your file, every other elective kicked you out," Sasuke said, massaging his temples. _Never in my life had I talked this much_.

Sakura was dumfounded. "How the hell do you know that?" She looked at them with criticizing eyes.

"Are you guys stalkers?"

The Uzumaki fell.

"Are you?"

Naruto felt like he was being choked.

"_Are you_?"

"It's called your school file, moron," the Uchiha said with utter frustration. _This is going no where…_

Green eyes blinked.

"Ooohh….."

Naruto, fully recovered, kneeled in front of her and gave off his most charming air, roses and all. "Sakura-chan…"

"PLEASE JOIN BAND!! PLEASE!! _PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSE!!_"

Sakura ignored him, but instead continued to stare at Sasuke.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Can I not have an elective?"

"No."

"What if I don't?"

Sasuke stared back at the pink haired girl with intensity.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

Coal black eyes narrowed to slits.

"We'll—"

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!" Naruto wailed while standing in between the two seated organisms. "I CAN'T HANDLE THE TENSION!! AND BASTARD," he pointed an accusing finger, "DON'T SEXUALLY HARRASS MY SAKUSAKU!!"

The very air froze from the menacing aura suddenly upon them.

"S-Saku…..Saku?" Pink hair took up the shape of snakes. "Of all the names you could think of…"

"Saku…ra?" Naruto said shakily. "Are you…ok?"

"OK?! OK?!" The lights flickered on and off. "Of course I'm _O.K_! How can I possibly NOT. BE," Sakura said through gritted teeth.

_I'll fucking kill you blondie….._

"Glad you agree. So here's your new schedule, your form, just sign there, and GOOD. BYE."

Sasuke hurriedly shoved a pile of paper into Sakura and quickly dropped her outside on the doormat.

"WHY YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING—"

Sasuke massaged his temples once more. _I'm gonna need some serious painkillers._

"SASUKE YOU BASTARD!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO SAKURA?!"

_And I am never talking to idiots again._

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Sakura threw her torn backpack to a disheveled bed and slumped into her wobbly, wooden chair. Slamming the papers down on the equally wobbly table, she sighed.

_I need new candles, _Sakura thought as she watched a bright red candle flicker warily.

**You wouldn't need to buy candles if you had a lamp.**

_But I live in a fucking cottage in the middle of no where! There is obviously _NO___ELECTRICITY!!_

**Well, you **_**could've**_** taken the apartment…**

_Full of child molesters and homos? No thanks._

**But you could have **_**also**_** stayed at that girl's house… what's her name…. Yukimono?**

_Yamanako. And no way am I gonna live in such a fancy house and get primped up constantly and become one of this mindless girlies who only care about their nails. Besides, it's a good experience, living alone._

**Oh come off it girl, the only reason why you rejected the offer was because they were a pain in the ass.**

_The parents were fine. It's easy to understand how my parents were friends with them, but I can't understand how they can call her 'a sweet little princess' while she complains about it being too hot and whines to her father that the ice cream is too cold, that the bird is mentally retarded, that the—_

**We get the point, Haruno. But back to the main point, what would your parents tell you if they found out you've been to a guy's house?**

_I don't understand how that's supposed to be 'the main point'._

**Just answer the damn question.**

"……..It doesn't matter, now, does it?" Sakura whispered quietly into the air, staring aimlessly as the last few rays of sunlight disappeared to the other side of the world. "They're dead anyway."

**Get a life and stop being depressed about that. Now be a good little girl and close the curtains, wontcha? You still gotta do homework and fill out that form of yours.**

"You're right, I should," Sakura stated blankly. However, it was only a few moments later did 

she comply to do so.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

_Chirp Chirp_

"Urgh…too bright…" the pink haired girl muttered, burying her head deeper into her arms.

_Chirp Chirp Chirp_

"Shut up, _please_," she groaned, burrowing herself deeper.

_Chirp Chirp Ch—_

_Finally_, Sakura sluggishly thought. _Peace an—_

_**SQWAAAAAK!!**_

_Shit._ Rubbing her eyes, she stretched out her cramped legs, and, in the process of doing so, fell off her unstable chair.

Silently cursing her bad luck, Sakura checked the clock hanging crookedly on the wall.

_7:55. Not bad Haruno. You have enough time to take a leisurely shower for once and get in time for 8:15….._

And then realization fell on her.

"8:15. Shit."

**XOXOXOXOXO**

"Look at her…"

"Papers flying everywhere…"

"Hah! Cool, its pink!"

Sakura blinked. Why was everyone staring at her? She usually didn't attract this much attention at all. All she did so far was sprint here, almost breaking her legs while doing so, and with her usual backpack and attire.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a piece of paper floated serenely down onto her head only to drop right into her hands.

_Why the hell am I holding my math homework? I'm sure it was in my backpack a moment ago…_

Then it her. "Shit! My backpack…"

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP_

And on that final note, the rest of her textbooks and papers tumbled out. There was an awkward moment of silence as the last of her books thudded to the ground, but it was soon overtaken by a giggle, a guffaw, and a roar of laughter.

Bangs slowly lowered itself over her face as she dropped the backpack torn in half. Her eyes were wide with shock and her ears were deaf to her surroundings.

_Not mom's circle…_

The laughter turned to jeers and whispered comments, yet Sakura paid no heed to them.

_No….No way you stupid son of a bitch…_

"Sakura-chan!"

_Stupid, chicken-ass haired God…_

**So you are obsessed with that Uchiha.**

"SAAAAKURAA-CHAAAAN!!"

Reality came back to her senses and her head snapped back up. A yellow blur came sprinting 

towards her and commenced conversation at once.

"Jeez, Sakura! You're never in your right mind, are you? Don't you remember there was a hole from those thorns yesterday?" Naruto talked slightly louder than usual, enough to overtake the sounds of the bystanders.

He sighed warily. "And it even was _your_ idea to sneak through those people's backyard… Weren't we supposed to go to that park to get ice cream? Oi, Sasuke! Over here!"

"Hn. Dobe. Can't you at least help her get her stuff?" The indifferent Uchiha walked in front of Sakura and stared at her. "Haruno, can't you even think? Honestly, we're never giving you money to buy food for us again. Well? Aren't you going to pick it up, too?"

Sakura was in a daze. What in the world were they thinking about? "I-I slept late doing homework so I kinda forgot it was ripped…" Her head was swimming with thoughts as she picked up her forgotten math homework. _What the hell is going on?_

Her train of thinking was interrupted once more when something light rested on the top of her head.

"Your new bag," Sasuke said gruffly and dropped the strap of a messenger bag down to Sakura's back.

"Huh? Wait, WHAT?! What the hell did you do that for Gayl— Oops…I mean, uh, you didn't have to…"

Gently lifting it over her, she examined it. It was made out of plain black cloth; creamy white straps and trimming; and two small petals, one red and the other pink, in the bottom right corner surrounded by a white ring.

Emerald orbs blinked. _What's mother's circle doing there? _The pads of her fingertips brushed the neatly sewn on circle. _Wait… Never mind. There's black in it._ True to her word, a thin strip of black ran through middle of the white ring.

"Oh…that… Well, I noticed the ring on your backpack was sewn on, so I thought maybe I should do it too…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly but soon turned to glare at his dark haired partner. "But the bastard here had to make my mom sew on black."

"Come on, let's go," Sasuke grumbled and took off to the upper campus. Naruto started to follow, but went back and dragged Sakura along with his free hand.

"You know Sakura-chan, you should use your locker more. You don't have to carry this much with you everyday," Naruto complained, his eyebrows furrowed together as he struggled to hold his pile in one hand.

"Oi. Hurry up," the Uchiha said, pausing momentarily. Naruto's expression changed all of a sudden to one of delight.

"Hey, hey! Wasn't our acting skills good! It was so cool, we just totally saved you back there…" the blond chattered on in excitement.

"…What? Th-That was all acting?!" Sakura pulled back in surprise. "For a second there, I thought you were completely nuts or had amnesia or something! For all I know, you might've been retarded!!"

"Why, thank you," Sasuke shot back sarcastically and walked in his long strides once more.

Sakura was quiet during the whole walk across campus (Fiery Middle School is actually very large); her brain being constantly dumped with a load of information was too much for her. It was only when Naruto abruptly stopped did she come out of her daze.

"Why are we here?" Sakura ventured to ask. The office of the music department was standing before her in all of its disorganized glory.

"Two minutes before class," Sasuke stated, looking at his watch, "Just say what class you want to take so we can hurry up." Pulling a piece of paper from the stack Naruto was carrying; he grabbed a random pen lying around and stared at Sakura for her reply.

"What? Oh, well…I…uh…erm….uh…shit…." Sakura glanced at the ceiling hopelessly. _Oh look, they have posters stuck on the ceiling…_

Her eyes ventured along the pictures until her eye caught the first word seen to her.

"Choir," Sakura whispered before realizing what she said. "OH SHIT NO, NO!! BAND! BAND!!"

_Anything BUT singing…._

Sasuke scribbled on the paper and put it on the office's chair. Throwing the pen carelessly aside, his monotone voice filling her ears:

"Welcome to music."

And he promptly left with exactly a minute before class.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

YAY!! DONE!! Now just another chapter to go…. And another chapter… And another chapter…. And some apologies if nothing seemed to be going on in this chapter. That'll be saved for the next chappie. Which will be updated sooner than this one was.

REVIEW!! THANKY!!


	3. School's Little Drama

Shit… another late update. SOORRRYY!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Ch. 3: School's Little Drama**

"So, Haruno, as I was saying, you're succeeding so well in class that we've decided to move you up to G.R.A.T.E." Asuma slid a piece of paper across her desk. "So you'll be going there for your next period in history… Haruno? Are you listening?"

Sakura's jaw was completely glued to the floor. G.R.A.T.E., or Gifted and Ridiculously Academically Talented Education, was for the elite students. To pink-haired Sakura, it was the class full of shockingly popular kids.

She felt like dying in a hole.

"Haruno? If you don't close your mouth I'll throw in my cigarettes (Sakura immediately closed it)… Good. Welcome back to Earth. As I was saying, the school already agreed to this so all we need is your permission to do so," Asuma lazily twirled a cigarette around and waited for an answer.

"Hey Haruno! Heads up!" the jeering voice of a student cut through her stream of thought as a crumpled piece of paper hit her head. Giggles then slowly died out as her classmates went back to chatting.

"I'm going," Sakura said determinedly. _Anything is better than being stuck with these idiots…_ _Maybe G.R.A.T.E. won't be so bad after all…._

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Haruno Sakura could have never been more wrong.

G.R.A.T.E. was the worst thing that God has ever created.

Why were all the girls _glaring_ at her?

_Honestly. I go into the room and the atmosphere just changes._

**They're just jealous of your awesome pink hair, Saku-chan. Ignore those bitches! HELLZ YA!!**

Kurenai squeezed her shoulder in a comforting manner. "It's alright, Sakura. They'll get used to you." With that, she turned to the class and, in Sakura's point of view, literally shouted:

"OK! Listen up! We have a new student. Her name's Haruno Sakura and I _expect_ and _demand_ proper behavior to her," Kurenai's glare intensified and the hand on Sakura's shoulder became a death grip.

"WOAH! SAKURA-CHAN!! WE'RE IN THE SAME CLASS NOW!!" Naruto's head popped up from the sea of students and waved energetically at her.

"Dobe, sit down before you embarrass yourself any longer." Though she couldn't see him, his voice was recognizable.

_Chicken-ass haired bitch…. Just my stupid luck…._

**Woah! We scored the jackpot this time! Look at all the hotties in this class!**

"Uzumaki, sit down. Haruno, you'll sit next to Uchiha at the window," Kurenai said, reverting back to her normal tone.

The atmosphere darkened even more.

"WHAT!" Sakura yelled. Her hands quickly went over to her mouth and turned red.

**Way to NOT attract attention, girl**.

_Shut up._

"Do you have a problem, Haruno?" Kurenai raised an eyebrow.

"Er, um, can I sit somewhere else?" Sakura asked timidly.

"I'm afraid not, Haruno. As you can see, there is no other unoccupied seat."

With a resigned sigh, Sakura dragged her feet until she met her devil.

"I hate you _so_ much," she said through gritted teeth and sat down.

"Whether you like me or not is none of my concern," Sasuke muttered back and closed his eyes.

"Chicken-haired bitch."

"So a girl _can_ resist an Uchiha's charms," mused a voice right behind her. Turning around, Sakura came face to face with a messy haired boy.

"Hi!" he grinned back and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-What?" Sakura turned scarlet and slapped at her cheeks.

"Stop sexually harassing the new student, Kiba," said the boy right next to him. "Honestly, you're so troublesome."

"Sorry, Shika," Kiba gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry for the lack of introductions, Sakura-chan. I'm Inuzuka Kiba, resident player of GRATE. This over here is Nara Shikamaru, resident genius of GRATE."

"U-um… I-I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you," she said and made a little bow.

_SMACK_

"OW! What was that for?!" she turned around to glare at Sasuke. "I didn't do anything to make you hit me on the head."

"Moron. Pay attention; Kurenai's gonna call on you in 5 seconds," was the nonchalant reply as he shuffled through a few pages in his book. "Page 54, paragraph 2, sentence 4," he whispered before pretending to be completely absorbed in the lesson.

"Haruno, read the rest of the paragraph," Kurenai said in her usual business-like tone.

"Um, ok," said Sakura as she quickly scanned the page. _Paragraph 2, sentence 4…. Oh, here it is…_

"Yet the government was completely unstable, and caused many riots among the peasants…"

As Sakura droned on, Kiba raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru. But in return, he just shrugged and looked at the back of Uchiha's head.

_So he noticed too, huh,_ Kiba thought, grinning wolfishly. _Haruno Sakura, you must be a pretty interesting girl…_

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Kurenai signaled the three minute break.

"Hey, Haruno," said a feminine voice.

Sakura looked up from her desk to see a menacing figure with her arms crossed and with a mass of red hair. Behind her were similar menacing figures, except one had jet black hair and the other was blonde (and familiar).

**Wait a minute…**

"Um, is there anything I can help you with?" Sakura asked.

"We want to let you know that even if _our _Sasuke-sama allows himself to spend the day with you," said the black haired girl, "you shouldn't brag about it to others."

**...isn't that….**

"I'm really sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," Sakura said back. _Sasuke-sama? What the hell?_

"Don't play dumb with us, Haruno," the blonde one said. "We're talking about this morning. A loner like you shouldn't go whoring around."

…**Ino?**

"Class, break is over. Open your books back to page 67."

The red and black haired girl walked away with a last glare, but Ino stayed.

"Hey, Sakura, I want to make it clear that you should act like you don't know me. If you do," she said, her blue eyes flashing, "it'll cause a lot of extra trouble that I won't like."

With that she waltzed off back to her seat.

Kiba whistled. "You sure are popular with the bitches," he said.

"The bitches?"

"Yup, the bitches; technically whores that go crazy over any good looking guy, especially Sasuke. The black one is Kin, then there's Karin, and then—"

"Yamanaka Ino," she whispered under her breath.

"You say something?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing."

_Haruno Sakura, you're in such deep shit._

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Sakura sighed and looked warily at the imposing building.

_Fifth period. Band._

**Don't stand around like an idiot and freak out. At least freak out **_**inside**_.

_Shut up._

With a last sigh, she gathered up all of her guts and took a step through the door of the music department—

—and promptly freaked out.

_Shit…So many pretty and popular people here….I want to barf…._

"Sakura-chan! Over here!" Naruto's cheerful voice cut through her train of thought. Grabbing her wrist, he hauled her inside the office and promptly presented her to a man occupying a chair in said office.

"Iruka-sensei! Ne, ne! Here's Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, bouncing up and down excitedly.

Iruka looked up and smiled. Standing up from his chair, he held out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Umino Iruka, your new elective teacher."

Sakura hesitantly grasped his hand, and, in her state of nervousness, pumped it up and down with vigor. "U-um… I-I'm H-Haruno Sak-Sakura. N-nice to meet you, too!" Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she let out a squeak and let go, turned a deep shade of red.

What happened next wasn't what she expected at all. Instead of an awkward silence, she heard a laugh. Allowing herself a peek, her eyes widened in shock. A man with neat brown hair laughed good-naturedly, rumpling her hair in a fatherly manner.

_Dad?_

But in an instant, it was replaced with Iruka still laughing hard, his hand patting her head fondly.

"You…" A burst of laughter. "…really are quite shy." Chuckling, Iruka finally forced himself to quiet down and deal with the matter at hand.

"Ahem. Well, now that you're here," Iruka said, "I'm going to need to ask a few questions."

"Do you have any musical experience?"

"Er….no…"

"Are you interested in any type of instrument?"

"Um…no?"

"And lastly," he gave her a stern look, "why are you here?"

"…"

Sakura was taken aback. This was a question asked in interviews, right? And as far as she was concerned, this was just fifth period band.

"What I'm saying is," Iruka talked, continuing to give her a cold stare, "is that in here, everyone has their own passion. A person without a passion is a person with no will power, no strength to live on. To be in this band, you have to actually _like_ the topic; otherwise you'd be isolated from the rest of this class. To them, it means a lot more than playing a few notes; it means the whole world to them."

Sakura blinked and glanced at Naruto for some comfort in this awkward situation. But instead of his usually cheeriness, there was the rare, serious look on his face and a glint of determination in his eyes.

And by this, Sakura summed up that they meant business.

"Um…. Can you repeat that question again?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

**Smart. You already forgot the question.**

_**Please**__, shut up._

Iruka couldn't help but feel the urge to grin. Covering his mouth to hide it, he repeated it again.

"Why are you here?"

And this time, Sakura supplied him with an answer.

"Because if I don't do this, I'll be stuck in the office sharpening pencils with a bunch of other equally gloomy eighth graders like me."

Iruka burst out laughing.

"You couldn't get more straightforward," he said, wiping a tear. "Now, with your straightforwardness, answer me this: will you work hard?"

Sakura thought for a moment before answering.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if I fail this class, I'd still be put in the office."

Iruka cracked up again.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

So after recovering from his fits of laughter (she couldn't find out what was so funny about her answers, but she concluded that it was just an old man's humor), he sent her to the storage room with dusty black cases, all ranging from the size of her fist to as tall as her.

But the thing that ruined the moment wasn't the dust _or_ the spider that seemed to stare at her from a corner, but one person.

Who just happened to be an Uchiha.

The silence was so evident that Sakura could've cut through it with her finger.

It was also really ticking her off that Sasuke moved his eyes up and down along her body.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Sakura asked, not even bothering to restrain the anger in her voice.

"Your hips," he replied in a gruff voice. "You can't weigh much, huh? Probably a little under one hundred pounds."

Sasuke stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. Wrapping his index finger and thumb around it, his eyes swept over the rest of her hand, absorbing all the little details.

"Oi! What are you doing?!" she shouted and pulled back. _Talk about my personal bubble._

"Measuring you. Didn't Iruka tell you why you're here?" he said before grabbing her wrist again. As his calloused fingertips brushed along the length of her arm, Sakura couldn't help but blush.

"N-no! He just k-kinda laughed at me and sent me to go get you—Hey! Th-that tickles!" she shouted as his hands went to the back of her neck.

"Stay still, would you? I'm supposed to find an instrument perfect for you." Sasuke finally let go of her and sat down, his eyes staring at nothing but straight ahead.

"Perfect instrument? Do those types of things exist?" Sakura said in a disbelieving voice.

"Of course. Music is an important role in the country; it's always been like that. The first hokage even had this whole theory of it. He said that every person has their own instrument, and that when a person gets in contact with it, a mutual love forms for that instrument and nothing else but that alone." Sasuke's eyes were still blank and looking at absolutely nothing.

"So you're saying that you have this 'natural talent' at finding these instruments?" she said skeptically.

Sasuke's eyes came back into focus and looked up into Sakura's face.

He smirked. "Of course."

To which Sakura's face shamelessly turned scarlet.

Chuckling, he stood up and patted her head, saying, "You're face is all red…"

Sakura turned even redder.

"…forehead girl."

Sakura punched him in the spine.

To which Sasuke shamelessly fell down in agony.

**XOXOXOXOXO**

Shit. I'm SOOOOOOO sorry. This update was way later than I planned it to be.

Anyway, mistake learned, I'll update even faster! So you have to review to keep my spirits up!

Ciao.


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